Amaranthe Maximizes Seattle’s Studio 7

Last week Swedish prog metal band Amaranthe brought the North American leg of their Maximalism World Tour to Studio 7 in Seattle in support of their 2016 Maximalism release. With them they brought Failure Anthem, Citizen Zero, Cypher16 and Smash Into Pieces for a night of great live music.

First up for night, fellow Swedish natives from Örebro, Smash Into Pieces. This group was amazing! Killer vocals, music and stage production from these guys. I had not seen them before this show and on the word of Amaranthe personally, I made a point to not miss their set. These guys are alternative rock with a little infusion of techno in their sound. They put on a great show. If you’ve yet to hear of this band, seek them out.

Next up for the evening was British metal band Cypher16. Sadly, the entire band did not make this show. Their drummer was held up with visa issues, but luckily Citizen Zero‘s drummer was able to step in and perform with them. Cypher16 put on a great set and keep an eye on their bass player, he’s insane to watch on the stage.

Moving on to Citizen Zero. These American rockers hail from Detroit, MI. They’ve got a wicked rock sound and were really entertaining to watch. You can’t go wrong catching these guys in a live show.

Last up for the support bands was Failure Anthem from Greensboro, NC. Just before heading out on tour they lost their vocalist Chris Pierson who needed to step away for personal reasons. He was replaced by Johnny Jamison of More to Monroe for this tour. Even with the change, the band still sounded great. Johnny stepped up in what seemed like a seamless transition in replacing Chris on this tour. The band put on one hell of a show and wrapped up opening support that had the fans ready for Amaranthe to hit the stage.

The moment the crowd had been waiting for arrived as Amaranthe took to the stage under darkly lit lighting. Then the show was off to a bang as the band started performing with Maximize then went straight into Boomerang which had the crowd jumping up and down waving their arms in the air. There were awesome moments throughout the show as the band interacted with their fans and the fans with the band. Many times Henrik and Elize were spotted grasping hands with fans in the audience and Elize making a heart shape with her hands to fans. Olof and Johan also entertained and interacted with the fans as well as Morten, when not behind his drum kit. This is a band that clearly appreciates their fans, well maybe. That opinion could change when you hear Johan‘s “angry” banter of insults with the fans, he’s declared himself the band cunt (as he put it himself lol). Totally just part of the show! In all seriousness though, they truly do love their fans.

Amaranthe also had a line up change when Jake E formally announced he’d left the band late last year. It wasn’t a big surprise as Jake E did not tour with the band on the last tour North American tour. On this tour they’ve had Smash Into Pieces vocalist, Chris Adam Hedman Sörbye, covering the clean vocals that Jake E was performing before his departure from the band. They sounded great with his vocals as an addition to their sound. Of course Elize‘s vocals were beautiful. For being a metal band, you many not expect her vocals in the mix, but that’s what makes the dynamics of the band so good and interesting, they have a sound that transcends the normal metal sound and can move in any direction with their sound. They have clean and screaming vocals that aren’t in many bands around the world and it works.

If you’ve never seen Amaranthe live, make a point to do it. They always do an amazing show. Make sure to check out all of their support bands on this tour as well. There is a lot of great music in this mix. The band has a few more tour dates left on their North American leg, there may be more dates later this year, I had a chance to sit down and chat with the band so look for the interview to hit our site soon.